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NPR: Having just one black teacher lowers black high school drop out rates & increases chances of college enrollment
- Thread starter RastaMentality
- Start date
In combination with statistics saying that white teachers are harder on black students than white students for the same disruptive behavior, it's not surprising that having a mentor who can actually relate to black students will actually increase their chances of success in learning environments.
Awesome. I dunno if I wouldn't have been interested in academia if I didn't have teachers where you could connect and relate to.
I worked at a high school one year back in 2012 that is is one of the biggest high schools in the state, enrollment wise.
The entire teaching staff was white that year. I didn't even fully realize that until I saw the staff photo.
In an interview leading up to Get Out's release, Jordan Peele lamented sitting in production meetings for various projects and wondering "where did the black people go?" As he was seemingly the only PoC in the room.
When I read that comment from Peele it reminded me of looking at that stuff photo and just kind of wondering......
A couple years later I was in a different, much more diverse district, and I encountered the most nurturing educational environments of my career.
Edit
Another school I worked at, in the first district, actually made news when a couple dumbasses (one of whom I had coached in a sport his freshman year) posed with a confederate flag and threw up Nazi signs or something like that in their prom photos and they thought it was hilarious.
Same district made news again this year when a kid wearing a Nazi jacket got pinched by another student.
Very glad I left that district. Lame duck administration and extremely insensitive policies from school to school.
The entire teaching staff was white that year. I didn't even fully realize that until I saw the staff photo.
In an interview leading up to Get Out's release, Jordan Peele lamented sitting in production meetings for various projects and wondering "where did the black people go?" As he was seemingly the only PoC in the room.
When I read that comment from Peele it reminded me of looking at that stuff photo and just kind of wondering......
A couple years later I was in a different, much more diverse district, and I encountered the most nurturing educational environments of my career.
Edit
Another school I worked at, in the first district, actually made news when a couple dumbasses (one of whom I had coached in a sport his freshman year) posed with a confederate flag and threw up Nazi signs or something like that in their prom photos and they thought it was hilarious.
Same district made news again this year when a kid wearing a Nazi jacket got pinched by another student.
Very glad I left that district. Lame duck administration and extremely insensitive policies from school to school.
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One of the greatest tragedies of ending segregation was the loss of good black teachers who had served as role models for the kids. They didn't get the same opportunities students did because those schools already had "good" teachers.
Not a surprise to be honest. I've gone to school a total 24 years and only had 2 Black teachers.
Also saw a study that having Black teachers helps non-Black students as well.
Also saw a study that having Black teachers helps non-Black students as well.
Yup, integration purged Black teachers and school administrators. There are localities where blatant enemies are unfortunately in charge of educating Black children.
if you told me boogie2988 made this post i'd believe you lmfao
Haha, poor phrasing on my part. The takeaway is that any social progress will have its fair share of white people patting themselves on the back regardless of how it actually affects those it's supposed to make reparations to. It's like looking at the Native American population, their meager plots of land and remarking "Well, we gave them the casinos. That's about even."
Maybe a bit unrelated but I swear to god I had a white teacher that put me on the spot and subsequently kicked me out of class for being "disruptive" when all I did was simply remained quiet and didn't participate in reading my assignment aloud. Meanwhile 2 white kids (who I was cool with so no hate) would quite literally show up to class late, high with red eyes, and would be throwing paper balls and airplanes at each other in the back of the class while giggling. They were widely known as class clowns but she didn't give a fuck.
It was infuriating. I left that school to be around people more like myself and it's sad.
Very true, and I say that as a teacher at a school with a 100% white faculty.
Solution, not clear at all. So hard to get ANY teacher nowadays... let alone being choosy about trying to get more racial diversity.
Solution, not clear at all. So hard to get ANY teacher nowadays... let alone being choosy about trying to get more racial diversity.
LOL. I know it seems like a suspicious post but it's true. There was a competent Black educational infrustracture going in some places and as soon as the school districts integrated, predictably the Black teachers and administrators lost their jobs. IIRC, I think I read the amount of Black educators in the country never recovered from that purge.
Yup, as far as I can remember my teachers we all white k-12. While I lived in a fairly white neighborhood I think my high school was made up of at least 30% students of one minority group or another.
Hell... I think all but maybe one or two of my college professors were white as well.
I grew up in a mostly black neighborhood, but now that I think about it... All the white kids were pretty much hereded into the same classrooms- and those were the classes I ended up in (I'm black)
I literally never thought about this until reading this thread, but my school was probably tracking with a racial bias.
Had a white college professor call me out in front of her class because I had the gall to say "excuse me" in order to ask permission to use one of the many free computers. Other teachers will either go ahead and say "sure" or tell you to wait until they finish the lecture, not call you out and talk down to you like a toddler. I burst into tears from that, and later asked another professor who was above her that I could talk to about her shitty behavior (because I wasn't the only student she did this to.) He advised talking directly to her first, but I didn't want to talk to the bitch at all. Fuck her.
She had done this before too- when I actually had her during a class, I called out a discrepancy between the online submission instructions of an assignment and the written instructions. Fuck me for wanting to make sure I had the file labeled correctly, right? She spent about 15-20 minutes chewing me out, and a classmate who sat next to me asked if I was okay.
I don't care that you did work on The Matrix. I wish lifelong inconvenience on you. I hope all of your scissors are dull. I hope everytime you pump gas, you're one cent over the limit. I hope you can never find your keys in a timely manner. I hope your credit card is constantly rejected by chip readers.
Please have an annoying life.
But of course, if boards of education ever tried to specifically hire more black people, the true victims would the white teachers who didn't get hired. /s
These are great. I hope all her yogurt is expired by one day and her pillow is always too hot.
These are great. I hope all her yogurt is expired by one day and her pillow is always too hot.
Deplorable behavior that I can't even fathom how a professor would even begin to justify if questioned. I wish I had the nerve back then to report her but I was a shy and timid child. Boy o boy have things changed. I wish I could go back but alas.
Also, going forward I will never wish the worst on people, I'm adopting your wishes of lifelong annoying inconveniences because it's not only hilarious but something I wouldn't feel bad about if it actually happened.
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Makes a ton of sense. Two pronged combination of casual cultural racism and needing someone to help counteract that working in tandem to disenfranchise people that have every reason to be.
On the reverse hand I went to black schools all my life. I could probably count on my hand all of my non black teachers I've had. It makes a huge difference to the black student regardless if the school is 92% black (like the schools I went to growing up) or 2% black, they need black educators in front of them.
Lived in Baltimore my whole life and I just realized I didn't have a Black teacher until I hit middle school. From there, it was half and half until I hit college and all my professors except three were white.
Currently, I'm a para working with a white teacher in an elementary SPED class. Everyday, my heart breaks as I can tell she has zero faith in these kids. I try my best to mitigate it and talk to her about it, but she's stuck in her ways. What makes it especially hard is that all the kids just love her while I, the Black man in the room, is at times treated like the enemy. It's such a toxic environment. It's also made me more aware of just how important it is to have people who can actually relate to these kids be the ones teaching.
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That's interesting. In my district, there's no "official" diversity hiring policy to my knowledge, but school administrations at all levels are pretty much 50/50 male/female, and have white, black, and hispanic representation. Getting the same quality representation on the faculty side is likely a bit harder nowadays as the teacher shortage is real.
Talking and handing out after class with my Black teachers around highschool inspired a lot for me.
Especially my senior English teacher she told me to stuck with writing and here I am writing professionally
Especially my senior English teacher she told me to stuck with writing and here I am writing professionally
The only PoC teachers I had before college were two Latinas in high school, one of whom I'm counting as such just because of a last name. It wasn't something I gave any thought to at the time.
My preschooler's teacher is black; the class has five white kids, four black/mixed kids, and one multi-Asian kid (mine). But we're moving to a different school where the only PoC educators/staff are my spouse and a tech guy, which is a concern for my family, as my three-year old already problematically self-identifies as white and says stuff like "I wish my [black] friend W--- had white skin."
We're working on it, though.
My preschooler's teacher is black; the class has five white kids, four black/mixed kids, and one multi-Asian kid (mine). But we're moving to a different school where the only PoC educators/staff are my spouse and a tech guy, which is a concern for my family, as my three-year old already problematically self-identifies as white and says stuff like "I wish my [black] friend W--- had white skin."
We're working on it, though.
I'll always be very happy about being in Los Angeles. My whole K-12 experience was filled with a diverse collection of teachers who had a passion to teach.
High school was especially amazing for it being a college prep school with teachers from all walks of life. Almost every teacher was concerned with our success.
Being in an environment where you don't get to see people of your own ethnicity or people who are not white in general who can at least relate to you in some way makes it hard to want to strive to succeed. Also we know from studies that white teachers are more harsh on black students.
The American education system is so broken right now, though. Fixing this problem isn't going to be easy when people already don't want to go into teaching anymore due to the lack of pay, benefits, resources, and overcrowded classes. It's going to be especially hard to recruit people of color to teach, and then getting them into areas where they are desperately needed.
Without incentives, this problem will continue to happen And it stays an endless cycle...
High school was especially amazing for it being a college prep school with teachers from all walks of life. Almost every teacher was concerned with our success.
Being in an environment where you don't get to see people of your own ethnicity or people who are not white in general who can at least relate to you in some way makes it hard to want to strive to succeed. Also we know from studies that white teachers are more harsh on black students.
The American education system is so broken right now, though. Fixing this problem isn't going to be easy when people already don't want to go into teaching anymore due to the lack of pay, benefits, resources, and overcrowded classes. It's going to be especially hard to recruit people of color to teach, and then getting them into areas where they are desperately needed.
Without incentives, this problem will continue to happen And it stays an endless cycle...
One of the odd unfortunate consequences of desegregation. Once the schools were desegregated, all the black teachers at the all black schools were fired in favor of the white teachers. A huge talent pool suddenly vanished because of a poor handling of desegregation.
Everyone needs a role model to look up to that they can see themselves in. This is why diversity in teachers is important
There are similar studies that show that girls in highschool drop out of STEM related classes at a higher rates than boys. If girls simply get a chance to speak and ask questions to a woman either studying or in a STEM field, that that act alone starts having an effect on the rates of girls continuing in STEM classes and choosing to go into STEM fields at universities.
There are similar studies that show that girls in highschool drop out of STEM related classes at a higher rates than boys. If girls simply get a chance to speak and ask questions to a woman either studying or in a STEM field, that that act alone starts having an effect on the rates of girls continuing in STEM classes and choosing to go into STEM fields at universities.
I never realized how much easier it is in the South. Like I'm in a town with 25k people, but roughly 9k are black. There are black teachers everywhere, to the point where I never even considered this an issue.
One of the oft talked about ills of desegregation is the destruction of self-serving black communities where, because of their oppression, cultivated centers of education and economy counter to whiteness.
The last thing this country will ever want to see become true is black people thriving WITHOUT white involvement, as it destroys all preconceptions about us being lazy, stupid, unassuming, and most importantly, autonomous.
Reading these two posts back to back makes me feel a bit guilty.
I was soo close to taking a teaching job in my home town, but ended up moving out of town to work for a private company. It made too much sense to try to get out of debt first before going into something so demanding and often thankless.
Yep. But when this is pointed out some folks like to act like you the real racist for saying that racial bias in early childhood education scales upwards as the kid grows up and that we need more ethnic minority teachers.
We got desegregation but never really got integration.
I had a handful of black teachers growing up and each one was close to me and had an impact on me. Idk if I'd care about my education as much if I never had them.
They were a lot more compassionate and caring about how I do in class than any white teacher I had. When I was going through some rough times in high school and slipping a lot in my classes, I had one teacher sit me down to talk about what's been happening with my grades, and actually listen to my problems and help. It may not sound as much but it was huge for me.
I feel that a lot of black students get lost in the shuffle of school, and don't get that one teacher who cares about how they do and can help them aim higher. It's more likely they'll get a teacher that treats them tougher than any white student.
They were a lot more compassionate and caring about how I do in class than any white teacher I had. When I was going through some rough times in high school and slipping a lot in my classes, I had one teacher sit me down to talk about what's been happening with my grades, and actually listen to my problems and help. It may not sound as much but it was huge for me.
I feel that a lot of black students get lost in the shuffle of school, and don't get that one teacher who cares about how they do and can help them aim higher. It's more likely they'll get a teacher that treats them tougher than any white student.
Don't. Teaching is hard as shit and like you said, often thankless. Don't feel at all bad about doing what's best for you. Plus, if you really care, you can always give it a shot down the line.
But America doesn't care about black kids, so why would they do something that would benefit them?